Reduction of Antibiotic Resistance Genes (Args) in Swine Manure-Fertilized Soil Via Fermentation from Fruit and Vegetable Waste

The issue of growing increasing of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in manure-fertilized soil needs urgently addressing. In this study, “fermentation from fruit and vegetable waste” (FFVW) was produced to reduce ARG abundance in swine manure-fertilized soils. With a six-month field experiment, we found that swine manure-fertilized soil had significantly higher ARG abundance than soil applied with chemical fertilizer. However, the self-produced FFVW significantly reduced ARG abundance in swine manure-fertilized soil, possibly through the decrease of abundance of Actinomyces strains, in which there was a 48.0%, 51.9%, and 66.7% decrease in the abundance of Nocardioides, Streptomyces, and Nonomuraea strains, respectively. The inhibition of Actinomyces strains, possibly contributed to the reduction of ARG abundance in FFVW-treated soil. With the bacteriostatic experiment, we observed that FFVW (2 mL/L) significantly inhibited the growth and metabolism in Actinomycetes sp. and Nocardia sp. strains, in terms of ATPase and PDH activity. These findings confirmed that the inhibition of Actinomyces strains, some of the most dominant ARG hosts, is one of the main mechanisms responsible for the decrease in ARG abundance in FFVW-treated soil. This study provided a feasible strategy for controlling farmland ARG pollution, which is of utmost importance for soil health and sustainable agriculture